U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,142 Gorissen et al, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses an arrangement for stiffening a powertrain assembly including an engine, clutch housing and transmission connected in series. The stiffening member comprises a lower cover for the clutch housing having a pair of forwardly extending arms that are secured to the side of the engine block ahead of the clutch housing. This construction is particularly effective in reducing vertical bending of the powertrain between the engine and the clutch transmission assembly so as to reduce stresses at the clutch housing--cylinder block interface.